by Ember Leigh
“I turned her in. I will not be an accessory to a crime. Especially not one like that. I took her the first chance I got. Sorry, but I don’t care how pretty someone is. If they’re a criminal, I’m not going to harbor them.”
The vehemence in his brother’s voice forced Garrett into silence. Wesley wiped his feet on the rug and gestured to the open door. “Listen, you gonna help me or not?”
Too stunned to respond, Garrett snatched his jacket from the nearby rack and followed his brother outside. As they trudged through the snow toward the truck, his mind roiled with activity. He didn’t even know what to mull over first.
Wesley pulled open the passenger side door and handed him several bags. He loaded up with as many as he could before beginning his trek back to the hotel.
Kidnapping?
Once inside, he made a beeline for the kitchen area, dropping his load on the dining room table.
Rose wasn’t Emmy’s mother?
Wesley entered behind him, dropped his bags, and then tore off his winter hat. He stomped his snow boots against the ground a few times and then unzipped his jacket.
She kidnapped somebody’s kid?
Wes must have caught the haze in his eyes. “Garrett, I did the right thing. We had fun during her stay, she was nice enough, but I won’t harbor a criminal in my hotel. We have a business to protect and maintain.”
Garrett began removing items from the shopping bags, watching but not seeing his own actions. “No, I understand, Wesley. I just…”
“Yeah, well, it surprised me too. It’s not every day your casual dinner guest turns out to be a scam artist.”
“But…” His mind made the same weak turns, unable to find a satisfactory conclusion. Like using a lame arm in an attempt to do the breast stroke, he swam in circles over this. “What else did the news report say? Did anyone else see it?”
“Why, you think I’m making this up?” Wes eyed him.
“No, of course not. I mean, it sounds made up, but I know you wouldn’t joke around with this, Wesley. I’m serious.” He touched his chest as he looked with wide eyes at his brother.
“Only I saw it. All the guys were playing poker, as usual, so I thought I’d see if the television worked yet. It did, so I flipped through some channels, and found the local news. The reception sucked, but you could see well enough. After about fifteen minutes, the bulletin showed up, showed a big picture of Emmy. I mean, no doubt: Emmy. I couldn’t believe my eyes. No mistaking her.”
“But did they name Rose?”
“No, they didn’t. It said an unidentified woman, mid-thirties. They didn’t have a picture of her. I don’t remember why. I remember seeing Emmy’s face, and everything clicking together. They said they suspected her to be somewhere between Michigan and Delaware.”
Garrett’s stomach twisted as his brother talked. God, it sort of made sense.
“Don’t you remember when we crashed into them?” Wes asked. “They had like, nothing with them. A little odd for whatever vacation trip they were supposedly on, don’t you think?”
Garrett nodded, wincing as the pieces fit together.
“Another thing,” Wes added, “I didn’t tell you about, is the day we rescued them, when you told me to look for other stuff in her car…well, the glovebox had popped open. And there was a gun inside.”
Garrett grimaced. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. And not a cheapy, ‘Oh, I’m gonna get this to scare a robber off’ type gun either. I didn’t mention it, because I thought I wouldn’t jump to conclusions. I mean, people carry guns. Not us of course, but some people. But now? It makes too much sense.”
The revelation washed over him like an oil slick. There could be no other logical explanation. So why didn’t it convince him? He should buy it as the most likely scenario. But something nagged at him to keep asking questions.
“I wish you would have told me,” Garrett said as he carried several jugs of milk toward the fridge. “You didn’t have to be so covert about it.”
“I didn’t want your emotions getting in the way.”
“My emotions?” He scoffed. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Oh, come on. Don’t play stupid. You were like a schoolboy with her. It was nice seeing you enamored for a change. But you would have defended her.”
He creased his brow. “No, I wouldn’t have.”
“Yes, you would have. Come on.”
Garrett clamped his mouth shut, knowing his brother was right. “Fine. Maybe I would have. But still. I could have gone with you guys this morning.”
“No. It worked out better this way. Then you would have gotten all mixed up in it and no. It worked out perfectly. I dropped her off, and then called the police and told them where to find her. They showed up immediately.”
“Not hard, considering the station is two blocks away.”
“Exactly. So they took her in during my trip to the grocery store. Piece of cake. Now Emmy will go back to her mother, and Rose will, I don’t know, go to jail for a long time.”
Wesley carried boxes of cereal into the storage room, leaving Garrett to mull over the information in silence. Maybe his brother could be so callous, but the thought of Rose being locked away made his heart twist in a strange way. God, she must be a good con artist if he could find out she kidnapped babies and still be sympathetic toward her.
But something didn’t sit right with him. No matter how many times he turned it over in his head, one big piece remained missing from the puzzle. He’d never been charmed by a con artist before, but everything in his body screamed she was no con artist.
Their connection had been genuine. And he wanted to know more of the story.
He wanted to hear it from Rose herself.
****
Rose mouthed the numbers as she dialed Emmy’s mother. This exact situation made her grateful for the hundreds of client’s numbers she had memorized before but never used.
Good practices led to saving your own ass sometimes. As long as snowstorms didn’t get involved and supposed safe keepers didn’t turn you into the police for no reason whatsoever.
The confusion plaguing her since the morning made tentative steps toward anger. How could someone do that without even telling her, without even asking first? Had Wesley been the one? Or maybe Garrett? Maybe he’d overheard her conversation with her boss in the morning…
Her stomach plummeted as the phone rang. Too many unknowns, and her mind swung like a monkey between branches. Breathe, Rose.
“Hello?” A tired-sounding yet distinctive feminine voice answered.
Rose’s voice caught. “Is this Emmy’s mother?”
“Yes. Who is this?”
Rose swallowed, looking at the officer reclining at the desk where he’d taken her information. “My name is Rose Delaney. I was hired to rescue your daughter Emmy and bring her back to you on the night of February fourth, to meet at the Delaware state line at approximately ten p.m. that night.”
A long pause. “Yes. And you never showed up.”
“Ma’am, I am calling from a police station somewhere in Pennsylvania to let you know your daughter and I have been trapped for five days here in the mountains due to a freak snowstorm.”
The mother paused again, and then came muffled sobs.
“She is completely fine and has been doing really well during the unexpected delays.” Rose paused as the mother sniffed into the phone. “However, ma’am? May I respectfully ask you to contact the authorities here to allow me to return to the road with your daughter, and drop all these charges?”
“Why didn’t you call?”
A flood of guilt. “Ma’am, I tried. I connected to you once, but I lost the signal before I could communicate anything.” Rose looked over at the officer, who had swiveled in his chair slightly to listen to the conversation. “What happened, ma’am, is Emmy and I were en route on a highway in Pennsylvania, on schedule on the fourth, when a whiteout hit. I attempted to pull over and an oncoming tru
ck sideswiped me. My car is…somewhere. It’s wrecked. But we were fine.”
More sobbing from Emmy’s mother. “But…where have you been this whole time?”
“We were rescued by two strangers, brothers. The ones who wrecked my car. They took us in and fed us and allowed us a place to stay while the storm passed.” Rose took a long shaky breath, sending a fervent prayer this conversation would be the one to end this mess. “Only this morning were we able to leave the hotel.”
Emmy’s mother blew her nose. “Dear God, I’ve been so worried.”
Rose hung her head. “I am so, so sorry. From the bottom of my heart. I didn’t plan this.”
“Where’s Emmy now, can I talk to her? Put her on the phone.”
“Ma’am, since you put out the kidnapping alert…they’ve taken her.”
Her mother wailed. “I want to cancel it. I need to hear my baby!”
Rose’s heart wrenched in her chest. “They’ve taken her to protective services…ma’am, believe me, I’d get her on the phone if I could. But you need to speak with someone about dropping this charge. So then I can get back on the road and deliver her to you. Today.”
More crying. “I want to see my baby. I want her home with me.”
“I can do this for you. Just cancel the alert. Drop the charges. As soon as I’m released from here, we can be back on the road. The storm has passed, I’ll rent a car, and we’ll be to you…as soon as possible.”
Emmy’s mother blew her nose again. “Someone’s calling in on the other line…I think it’s the police department where you are. I need to answer this.”
Rose bit her lip. She’d done all she could, explained as much as possible, and now Emmy’s mother held all the chips. “Take the call and explain to them everything. Please. My only interest is returning Emmy to you as soon as possible. And everyone will confirm the snowstorm passed through here. Please, ma’am, let me bring Emmy to you.”
Rose hung up reluctantly after squeaking out a small “Good-bye” and stood there for a moment, hesitant to break her bubble of hope and confront reality once more.
When she turned around, the officer stood behind her, smiling. “Let me take you to the cell.”
She bristled as he grabbed her by the elbow and led her through a set of heavily reinforced doors toward a small cell near the back of the building. As soon as she stepped away from the phone, her only lifeline to the world outside, her brain began reeling once more.
An anonymous tip had turned her in. After combing through every conversation she’d had at the hotel during the past week, the only incriminating words to leave her lips had been spoken on the phone call with her boss.
So who had been tipped off?
The officer kicked open the cell door and she walked inside, heading for the far end as he locked the door.
“Shoulda called your lawyer,” he said as he pocketed the keys, offering a snide smile as he walked away.
Rose rolled her eyes and took to pacing the cell. From the looks of this place, it couldn’t be more Podunk. She seemed to be the only registered guest, and didn’t know if the officer treated her that way out of protocol or boredom.
Time to think positive. Start focusing on the things that would begin to go right for her, not wasting vital energy solving insignificant mysteries. Like whether Garrett really had been the one to turn her in.
The mere thought of it wounded her in a strange way. Their five days together had been special, and she’d thought mostly of Garrett on her way down the mountain with Wesley. Leaving him without saying good-bye. Wondering if they’d ever see each other again.
Not to mention plenty of scolding herself for the tears that had almost spilled as she imagined not seeing him ever again. What absurdity. Five days and she could cry over a man, a phenomenon that most certainly had never happened before. The whole thing scared her, made her both vulnerable and crazy, like a force from beyond directed her rational mind without her consent.
To think maybe he’d been the one to so callously turn her in, to say nothing while knowing she would be taken into police custody? That violated the absurd bonds she imagined they’d created.
Rose shook her head, struggling to rid her mind of these thoughts. They pestered her, raged throughout her, and pushed her toward helplessness in a new way.
She needed a bottom line, she realized, sitting down on the cement bench in the far corner. A bottom line would help her get over the tumult of emotions raging through her right now like loose objects in a tornado.
The bottom line was this: Garrett was a good-looking guy who rescued her and temporarily overcame her fortress of solitude, a weakness incurred by the snowstorm. Once she busted out of this holding cell and got back on the road with Emmy, she’d forget him fast.
She had to convince herself of it, otherwise she’d never stop seeing snapshots of his face every time her mind wandered, or wishing she could get just one last drink of his mind-spinning scent.
****
Garrett lumbered into town, still white-knuckling the steering wheel after a full hour and a half. The descent from the hotel had been hellish. The tracks left from Wes’s previous adventure were helpful for following, but meant the truck skidded and slipped more easily, especially on the steep jags. But after a mostly-terrifying ninety-minute ride, he crossed into the sleepy town about fifteen miles from the hotel and heaved a sigh of relief.
The early-afternoon winter sun had a late-evening hue to it, one of his least favorite parts about winter in the north. He waved to a few people as he maneuvered the truck to the police station. The roads were much better down here, but turns and stops still presented moments of panic and sweaty palms. No amount of years would adjust him to winters in the north. It seemed a physical impossibility. In fact, he didn’t know why everyone in this place wasn’t more stressed about the white stuff.
He eased into a parking spot in front of the police station, already eager to find a sign of Rose. As he turned the truck off, his cell phone buzzed in his pocket.
“Yes, brother? I see the land line is working.”
Wes sighed from the other end of the line. “You took the truck to go find Rose, I assume?”
“No, I actually noticed you didn’t get my favorite kind of granola, so I came back to the grocery store.” He watched the front door of the police station, wondering if she’d magically come waltzing out. “Also, you turned Rose in to the police and the whole thing is very confusing, so I thought I’d come talk to some people.”
Wes sighed again. “Listen, do whatever you have to do. But you don’t know this woman. Neither of us do. Don’t get all crazy googly-eyed.”
“I’m not googly-eyed. I’m doing some investigation. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go visit the con artist.”
The brothers said their good-bye, and Garrett braced himself for the walk to the police station. Maybe he wouldn’t see her again; maybe she’d been whisked off to some exotic police station where they put all the real criminals, but he wanted more information. At the very least. So he could make some sense of the emotions stampeding through his mind. Figure out how to wrap up this strange, brief chapter of his life with some semblance of coherence.
Inside the police station, he recognized the guy behind the front counter. He waved, stamping his feet off on the rug. “How’s it goin’, Dale?”
Dale nodded his greeting, sitting up slowly in the chair. “Garrett, good to see you. How’d that storm treat you up there?”
“Brutal,” he said. “Snowed in until this morning. Almost ran out of food.”
“With all those grown men living up there with you, I’m not surprised.”
“We got more supplies today,” Garrett said. “It’s nice to get out of the hotel finally.”
“We were snowed in for two and a half days down here ourselves. Power went out a handful of times too.”
“That’s where our generator comes in real handy. Would have been SOL without it.”
Dale
smiled, offering a lazy smile with hooded eyes. “So, Garrett, what brings you in here today?”
He leaned against the counter, trying to catch a furtive glimpse through the window of the nearby door. Nobody around, save them in the front hall. Though he suspected this particular station wasn’t exactly the bustling hub of fearlessness and action like on the TV shows. “Listen, I’m in a strange situation. Did you guys happen to pick up a woman named Rose today?”
Dale nodded, his face turning grim. “Sure did. Wanted on kidnapping charges.” He let a low whistle. “Can you believe that, in a town like this? Shocker.”
Garrett tried to calm his racing heart as he struggled to play it cool. “It’s a huge surprise to us all, I think. So what happens from here? Where will she go?”
“To be honest, Garrett…I can’t really say.”
Garrett thought his elbow-room with the officer had run its course, but Dale leaned forward and rested his chin in his palm. “She might be let go, if this story she has checks out. But it sounds like a pile of crap to me.”
His stomach turned to ice, and he tried to mask an intense surge of interest. “Oh, yeah? What’s that?”
Dale shook his head, laughing a little. “It’s ridiculous. She says she’s a bounty hunter.” He narrowed his eyes at Garrett. “Like, she’s hired to kidnap babies.”
Garrett forced a laugh as his mind leapt to work in the background. Oh God, could he actually hope for it to be true? It somehow made sense, without even thinking about it.
“Who knows. She could be a kook, that’s for sure. She looks like one of those west coast crazies. Definitely not from these parts. Registry says Santa Monica, California.”
Garrett bit his tongue before he reminded Dale his own hometown sat closer to Rose’s than here. Interrupting the flow of information didn’t seem the best option at this point. “But seriously? A bounty hunter? For…babies?” Even saying the words sounded fantastic and unbelievable. Yet somehow distinctly Rose. So much more about her made sense. The exercise. The fitness. The stealth. He swallowed a premature yelp of joy.
Dale turned toward the door leading into the bowels of the station, then back toward Garrett. “Apparently the lady made her one phone call to that baby’s mother,” Dale said in a low voice. “We’re checking it out now. But I wouldn’t hold your breath. The stuff these people come up with when thrown into a cell is some of the wildest stuff you’ve ever heard in your entire life.”